Chapter 5: The Vaktarv
"Ugh, the air's so close in here," Jonas commented, his voice a whisper.
Jack glared at him in the low, icy-blue light of the kurstallis, before glancing around. Only the kurstallis near to the gate itself were glowing, fed by the light energy. Further down the narrow corridor cut into the stone, the crystals were dull and glowed only briefly as he shone his P-90's torch over them. Until the higher-ups officially approved the new staffs, the good ol' P-90 was Jack's favoured weapon. As the gate deactivated behind them, the closest crystals faded back into darkness.
Jack ordered Teal'c to cover the rear as he took point, leading the way and illuminating the tunnel by torchlight alone. It was some time before they entered another room hewn into the rock. Like the gateroom, it was round in shape, resembling a cylinder. Just like all of the Hakonan labs they'd seen so far, he remembered.
Sam took in the structure and the equipment. Like the stasis labs, there was a large-sized kurstallis crystal in the centre that served as a power conduit to the single machine in the room. Yet, it was about the size of a human head, rather than the huge version almost twice her height. The machine, she guessed, must use far less power than the Hakonan stasis cells.
The machine itself was directly in the centre of the room too, and circular in design to compliment the lab it was housed in. From glance alone, she couldn't tell what it did. There was, however, a single control panel, glowing in the dark. She signalled her CO over to it.
"Any idea what this says, sir?" she quizzed, pointing to the single line of Hakonan Norse on the screen.
"Doesn't ring a bell," he sighed, brushing away the dust lining the panel. "Still, it doesn't look like there's anything else here. This has to be… whatever it is we're supposed to find."
Jack raised his hand up to press the controls on the panel. He stopped himself. This wasn't like him at all! It was usually he who had to keep an eye on Sam and Jonas whenever they were in some alien place with stuff to look at. Tinkering could lead to automated defences, activating something else they didn't want, or from his own experience, nasty electric shocks.
"Sir?"
He looked at his 2IC, shaken from his pondering. Shoving aside his uncertainty with his desire for answers, he plunged ahead and prodded his finger on the only available control.
There was a hum… a flicker of blue light… the kurstallis glowed into life.
Above the machine and its power crystal, a hologram wavered into existence. All of the team stepped back in surprise, craning their necks to see properly. The image was that of an aging man – he had drawn features, worn from the passage of time, and his partly-braided hair and large beard were streaked with grey. He stood with an air of authority and wisdom, however, his broad frame covered with a heavy coat, the collar lined with fur. Sam was reminded of the Cimmeran hologram of Thor, only older and without the armour. In the stunned silence, the hologram spoke.
"Einar, my son."
Jack raised his eyebrows, some buried memory dredged up at the sight and the words, "Wait, this is Jarl Sigrun!"
"I am unfamiliar with that name, O'Neill," Teal'c commented.
"Jarl Sigrun was a Hakonan scientist – he was Einar's creator. I remember that..."
The hologram continued: "If you have found this message, then you have undoubtedly been following the strange dream that has been hounding you. There is much to tell you – hopefully my words here will explain everything sufficiently. Yet, I can tell you now that your presence here confirms one simple fact – Hakon has fallen.
"Firstly, I must tell you that you have been misinformed for much of your life. It is time for you to learn… the truth.
"In my lifetime I have come to realise that we cannot keep up this war against the Goa'uld. Hakon simply doesn't have the numbers, resources or the technology to survive. Though noble and proud, our people are deluded. Deep down, they believe we can endure, and that the Goa'uld will never come here by ship. Both Hakonan and Innarim had escaped complete destruction thus far solely due to our remote location in the galaxy, but that will not last forever.
"Sadly, only a small minority share in this reasoning. The greater part of Hakon are simply not listening. No large scale colonies on other planets are being established, owing to the great fondness we share for our beloved homeworld. Our people insist on staying here, and so we will all die here.
"I predict that within the next few centuries, the Goa'uld will find and destroy us."
He saw it coming, for all that time… Jack clung to the brief recollections he had of the old Hakonan, from Einar's suppressed memory.
"Now, Einar, you will undoubtedly have heard at least some rumour about the 'Vaktarv'. Well, a small, undercover group of scientists, myself included, secretly began a project in preparation for this oncoming storm.
"The dream you have suffered was planted in your mind to lead you to this message, and programmed to surface over time after you discover Hakon has been either destroyed or conquered. The knowledge of Hakon's destruction was the mental trigger. This dream, however, was not the only thing hidden in your mind. Recently, our scientists completed several important projects. This research is the highest point of our knowledge. Yet, centralised as we Hakonans are on our single world – save for some research outposts – we do not have the resources to properly use this knowledge to prevent our destruction.
"For you see, 'Vaktarv' is not a weapon or a project. It is a title."
Jack looked distant, his eyes lowered in concentration: "Vaktarv… that means something…"
"'Keeper of the Legacy.'"
Jack, Sam and Teal'c turned to face Jonas, surprise evident in their expressions. Jonas shrugged innocently.
"I've studied Dr. Jackson's notes on Hakonan Norse."
"Our aim," the image of Jarl Sigrun ploughed on, "is to preserve our greatest achievements so that someday, somehow, another race or another civilisation can use this knowledge to carry on the fight. To build on it and become stronger. To stop the Goa'uld once and for all. We devised a way to download this knowledge into the mind of an Innarim, perhaps the greatest of all our achievements, to be concealed deep in the subconscious along with the appropriate mental triggers.
"You, Einar, we chosen for this great task. My team and I were able to covertly give you this knowledge upon your creation. To protect it, I have left instructions to my team and all those who follow on from them. If they have reason to suspect that Hakon is on the verge of discovery, they are to ensure that you are offworld to safeguard your survival. They must then track you down and offer you long term stasis, separating body and mind and storing them in different locations. This will ensure that anyone capable of safely discovering and reuniting the two is advanced enough to use the knowledge you hold.
"This message is a second trigger. Henceforth, the information hidden in your mind should slowly leak into your consciousness. We only pray that it can help your benefactors, and they can succeed where we have failed. Perhaps then, the efforts of all of Hakon will not have been in vain.
"You are the Vaktarv, Einar. Do what you must do. And I hope that, in time, you can forgive me."
The image wavered out, and they were left in the blue light of the kurstallis, staring at the now featureless ceiling. Jack rubbed his sore neck, bewildered.
"Well, that was a surprise…"
"So, Einar is actually a living repository of the greatest Hakonan knowledge?" Sam exclaimed, looking to each of the others. "All that time, we had advanced technology right under our nose."
"This message was intended for Einar," Teal'c observed, unaware of Jonas keenly examining the floor around them. "Why then was the speech in your Tauri language?"
"Hakonan technology is pretty advanced. I'd say it'd have to be sensors detecting that we're not Innarim," Sam suggested.
"Question: does Einar know about all of this?" Jack cut in.
"I'd say he does," Jonas was still pointing his torch at the floor of the lab, "unless any of you have something surprising you want to tell the rest of us about your feet."
The ground was covered in a thick layer of dust, deposited slowly over the centuries. Boot-prints from the team were clear, but among them were partially dust-covered prints, still visible against the thicker layer around them.
The paw-print of a wolf-like creature.
OK, I got this part done faster than I expected. Sorry if the hologram speech was a bit long-winded, but there was a lot of things I wanted to have explained. I'm hoping to add more questions, problems and obstacles for SG-1 to deal with soon. I'm being harsher on them than before, I think. Oh well, I hope its dramatic rather than down-right confusing. Thanks as ever to readers and reviewers!